Atlantic Crossing Autopilot Survey
Good autopilot article from yachting world magazine based on survey of 250 boats that crossed the Atlantic last year including us.
“Drive unit problems made up 45% of the issues encountered – that’s 25 drive units across the fleet that were deemed unsatisfactory by over 250 transatlantic skippers. Just over 20% of problems were traced back to the course computer or the control unit, which leaves 30% (approximately) of problems in the ‘don’t know category’.”
Obviously having a full backup autopilot is great but is expensive. We installed a backup drive and rudder sensor on starboard before our Atlantic crossing which was a 3rd of the price of the full autopilot install. Might be the way to go for folks that wants some redundancy but don’t want the cost of the full backup.
Link to full article below: